Hunted

Eana pushed through the bushes, heedless of the new scrapes and scratches she was accruing. She could heal them later. Just as soon as she got out of here.

Behind her she still heard the occasional click. Or was it a twig cracking? She wasn’t about to wait and find out.

She tried to pick up the pace, but exhausted, the best she could do was a labored, uneven walk.

The sun had nearly set when she spied the empty almost-road that led from Irondale to the Hive dungeon. Almost laughing in relief, she took a quick look around to orient herself.

She couldn’t be sure how far she had to go but at least she could get the direction right.

The way back would take her past her mentor’s house - she couldn’t let Gendra know she had been out here. And especially… well, everything else that had happened since she’d decided to take a crack at questing on her own.

For just a moment she felt safe enough to rest a moment and brood over her failed quest while her feet rested.

Success had been so close! The biggest thing she would have ever done by herself. And she missed it.

It was all so unfair! Back in the village all she did was help - it was the entire purpose of her class. She should have been held up like a prodigy and a great gift for the town but all she got when she tried to do anything was dislike, skepticism, and more people muttering that something was wrong with her.

Today she came out to help the adventurers. That Fighter was alive because of her. She had done exactly like the quest had told her - Back from the Brink - That’s what she had done for that guy! And everybody kept looking at her strangely, like she was failing to do the thing only she and one other person in irondale had the skill to do.

And Tomme, that rough looking guy with the crossbow. He was the worst of them all and he had the nerve to say that she had brought the Hive Soldier.

It hurt to admit it but it was an unusual coincidence. Tomme had warned everybody that bad things happen when Eana comes around, and exactly like he had said, bad things happened.

Could it be true? Was something actually wrong with how she did the healing? When Gendra healed people they were thankful. They were relieved at their sudden improvement. Gendra was respected throughout the village and even by the adventurers. She sometimes got the call to go out to the dungeon and handle healings just like Eana had today. It was just that today when that recruit came calling Eana had been the one to meet him first.

And then she had gotten that quest.

A short series of clicks echoed through the trees, pulling Eana abruptly from her reflection.

She covered her mouth to try and muffle her breathing and limped off as fast as she could manage.

Then she heard it again. This time accompanied by the light pattering she now recognized as the hard limbs of drones tapping their way across the forest.

They found her! They were coming. She had to move!

Suddenly a prompt opened across her vision. Poor timing for Order to say hello, but she checked it anyway.

Quest

Hunted No Longer

Face your enemy and begin to walk the path never considered. Defeat five drones before the sun rises.

[ 0/5 ]

Reward: 250XP

She dismissed the prompt and continued forward. Five Drones? Not a chance!

Order, while definitely very real, was always thought of as a dispassionate observer that simply brought structure into a world that Chaos attempted always to send into disarray. But a quest like this was so far beyond her, especially now, that it was either a joke or the force that controlled the universe of thinking beings was having a very bad day.

Turning back for even a 500XP reward wouldn’t be worth the risk.

Ahead of her she saw something. A light through the trees. Not the orange, flickering light of a torch, but a single, solid, white glow. There was only one thing that could make a light so impossibly bright.

“Idris!” she called, giving up entirely on trying to stay quiet.

“Eana? What are you doing out here?” and around the corner her brother appeared. The light of Radiance above and just in front of him let her see him clearly. He was still wearing his heavy spun work clothes, gloves, boots and all.

She worried for just a moment when she saw he wasn’t carrying a weapon. Why would he though? But without one, would they be OK if the bug men caught up?

“Idris! They’re coming!” Eana shouted, closing the distance between them and throwing her arms around her brother.

Bewildered, he asked, “What are you even talking about? You’re not supposed to be out here. Gendra said she thought you went home and..”

“Back that way! We have to go!” she whisper shouted.

He held her at arms length for a second and her legs momentarily buckled, almost spilling her onto the ground.

Looking over her filthy blouse he recoiled slightly, “Gross, Eana! What even happened to you? You look like some kind of grubby, snotty little… tree goblin or something. Seriously, have you even - ”

“IDRIS!” she screamed, exasperated, fear leaking into what had been hope moments before.

She pushed past him. “We. Have. Got. To. GO!”

But his magical circle of light didn’t move to follow. She was ready to throw rocks at the moron just to annoy him enough to chase her.

Then they both heard it. Insect chittering up the path back toward the dungeon.

“What was that?” he asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you! It’s them! It’s the Hive!”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He scoffed, “But they’re dungeon monsters. They stick around the dungeon. We’re outside the node but the dungeon’s got to be at least another hour walk back that way.”

The clicking sounded again. Louder.

“Order preserve me, I don’t even care right now, Idris!” Eana yelled. “Please! Can we get out of here!?”

Idris turned slowly back towardIrondale and safety. “Yeah…” he said, “OK, let’s head back.”

He raised the ball of Radiance higher and took one last slow look around before moving.

Out of the woods a Drone burst out of the underbrush. It came on so suddenly that Idris stumbled back and fell, but it ignored him completely and propelled itself straight at Eana.

She screamed and tried to run when she heard Idris behind her shout, “No you don’t!”

She glanced back and saw him. Scrambling on all fours he leapt forward and grabbed the drone by the back “foot”. The thing kicked out at him with the ball like, bony protrusions it used to walk around but he held on tight, muscles visibly straining in in the harsh white light of Radiance.

She watched the thing attempt to slash at her brother. It scored some glancing hits, even drawing a little blood, but it was overmatched. She watched it struggle with no more effect than she might have had against somebody like him.

It seemed silly to worry about him not bringing a weapon now. Was it really necessary in a hand to hand fight with a spindly bug man when your actual job was breaking rocks?

The Drone didn’t stand a chance.

He gained his feet and dragged the thing under him before dropping back down and pinning it between his knees. He caught both arms in his iron grip and held them out, leaving it completely open. Then, suddenly, the look in his eye vanished and was replaced by… confusion?

“What should I…” he said, barely struggling anymore to hold the thing in place.

It clicked at him uselessly, its flat face unable to show any emotion.

“What should I do with it?”

“Are you serious right now?!” Eana said, incredulous.

She would never say it out loud - his ego didn’t exactly need the boost - but in the light of Radiance, holding the drone beneath him he looked like a hero out of a story book.

She had seen him with his hammer, swinging it around and acting like he was training for a fight. He was always talking about what he’d do if dad would just let him invest his XP in some combat skills. Or fawning over the adventurers down at the inn.

The same brother who argued with their father more times than she dared to count about how much more money and XP he could be saving up by joining up with the adventurers and raiding the dungeon than he could by staying in the mines - that brother - finally given the chance to do some real adventuring work was staring at her and asking what to do?

But, to be fair, he had never been in an actual fight before. Not even with any of the other villagers.

Idris had always been freakishly strong and all the other boys, even the men, knew they wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Or at least they expected not to and that was enough to keep trouble away.

But looking at him now, she realized that maybe there was more to fighting than just being strong.

Attemptying sympathy, she said, “I guess, like…hit it? I saw one of the adventurers kill one with a shield.”

He nodded and put both of the drones skinny wrists in just one of his rough hands. Then he balled up his free hand into a fist and punched the drone right in the head.

“Ow! Chaos take…MAN! This thing’s head is hard!”

The Drone just chittered in irritation.

“OK,” Eana said, thinking it over, “bad Idea.” Maybe she could kill it and actually do the quest Order had given her? With her brother’s help, of course.

She stepped up, fully intending to stomp the things head in when it looked straight at her and let out a series of fast, aggressive clicks.

“Eww!”

“Seriously?” Idris asked.

“It made those noises at me!”

“I was there, Yahn. I’m still here.”

He grinned suddenly, “Check this out.”

He grabbed the thing by both wrists again and forced its arms back down to its head, making the thing slap itself with its hard, carapace-covered hands.

“Think this’ll work?”

“Don’t you…” she stifled a laugh and tried to look serious but Idris was using the drones hands to tap out a rhythm on is face.

“It was trying to kill us!” Eana said, but if the grin hadn’t already been visible on her face he definitely would have heard it in her voice. The situation had turned around so completely that after the last few hours of utter terror and exhaustion it was hard not to find it all funny.

He smiled and stopped, “Are you sure? What if this thing was just like, I dunno, out to bring back some pinecones or something and we did this to it?”

“OK no,” Eana said, “That is NOT what was happening back by the dungeon. One of the guys I healed was almost dead. Dead dead. And I watched things just like this one try to take down the rest of the party.”

“Where is that band anyway?” Idris asked, “Breakthrough, wasn’t it?”

The drone clicked violently and he shushed it.

“Yeah I… lost them… in the trees,” Eana lied, “the bug men forced me off the path and we got separated.”

Idris nodded and said, “OK, I’m going to try something.”

He looked down at the drone and spoke to it directly, enunciating his words and speaking slowly like he figured that would help it understand, “I’m going to let you go. OK? Go home. Back to Hive. Home. Understand?”

He wiggled its arms a little on the last word.

The thing actually quit clicking and struggling.

“No. Way,” Eana said.

“I’m letting go, step back,” Idris said, waving her back with his chin before slowly letting go of one arm.

Instantly the drone slashed out at him, ripping the front of his shirt.

“Whoops! OK, that did not work.” He looked up and caught Eana’s eyes, “You meant it, right? This thing and the others, they wanted to kill you? It’s trying to kill us now?”

She nodded.

“I have one more idea,” Idris said, “Cover your eyes.”

She made a show of covering them with splayed fingers. She had seen more blood in the last two years than her brother had in his entire life. Just this afternoon she had yanked a foot long spike out of a gaping wound. The guy’s blood was still on her shirt! She wasn’t about to be squeamish over a dead drone.

Idris reached around the drone’s head and secured a finger hold on a ridge of its carapace where a human’s chin would have been. Then he looked away. What was he even doing?

“Sorry buddy,” he said and wrenched the head sideways, pressing what would have been its ear down to its shoulder.

Then he just kept pulling.

“What are you doing?” Eana asked, “You’re strong but it would probably be easier to just OHHH!”

With a sickening crackle and a final, burbling pop the drones entire head came off. Greenish yellow insect goop sprayed out the neck as the arms and body shuddered and went limp.

Idris looked down at the head in his hand, gagged, and tossed it into the bushes. Eana dropped her hands from her eyes where, for just a second, she had closed her fingers to spare herself the sight of the neck gush.

Idris stood and looked thoughtful, his eyes glazed in the way everyone’s did as they checked on their sense of progression or notifications.

“Eana,” he said, “You would not believe how much XP I just got from killing that thing.”

She stood dumbfounded for a moment, looking back and forth from the slowly expanding puddle of insect goop to the bush where Idris had tossed the head before finally replying, “Was it more than fifty?”

“What?” Idris asked, “Nothing that ridiculous. I got fifteen though!” He shook his hands, half in excitement and half to get the rest of the drone residue off.

They stared at each other for a few seconds in silence before Eana asked, “Can we go home now?”

He nodded and they started walking together, the woods around them silent except for the gentle echo of their footfalls.

“Hey Eana?” Idris asked.

“Yeah?”

“Happy birthday.”

“Uh. Thanks. Love you, Idris.”

“Also, I hope this doesn’t change anything but… I didn’t get you a present this year.”

She looked up at him, face blank, “Hate you, Idris.”

She kept on walking.

“If you’re upset,” he said, “I can go back for the head.”

She elbowed him and smiled, “Think you can give me a piggy back? That’s all I want right now.”

“Deal,” he said, “I’ve got another idea, too.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Uh huh.”

But he didn’t elaborate. He just picked her up easier than he took down the drone and put her on his broad shoulders. Up there, with the light of Radiance taking away the fear of the dark, she strained her ears for any last sounds of pursuing drones.

Nothing.

Before she knew it she felt them cross into the node. Safe.

The bug men couldn’t follow them here.